THE YEAR 2000. Humanity survived Y2K, Britney Spears reigned over the pop charts and Toryumon kicked off their second year in Japan. It was a wild time. PREVIOUSLY ON GAORA TV: chubby-cheeked vampire MAKOTO finally joined Crazy MAX after a lot of swerving, Masaaki Mochizuki became a fully-fledged Sekigun member, Kanda and Susumu started heeling it up in Mexico and Chocoball KOBE abandoned his evil ways to become a permanent midcard babyface fixture. Off we go.
Kenichiro Arai vs. Ryo Saito
We saw Ryo reach the Young Dragons Cup final in Mexico in the previous episode, but this was his actual Japan TV debut and he gave off the same prematurely talented vibe as the Genki’s and Susumu’s of the Toryumon undercard. Already polished in terms of in-ring basics, already winning over the crowd with his creativity (huge reaction for the Fisherman’s Express) and already radiating with sympathetic underdog energy. The cyclist gimmick would eventually put him over the top as one of the more likeable characters in Toryumon. Meanwhile, Araken was a natural fit for the disciplinarian role, grumpily bashing away at Saito with chops, headbutts and submissions. Lots of nifty counters from both guys, including an ankle lock out of a La Magistral from Arai and Saito cutting off a jumping headbutt with a flying Triangle choke. These opening matches between the late 1st-class guys are the gift that keeps on giving. ***
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Chocoball KOBE
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Mochizuki beat the absolute dog shit out of Chocoball KOBE. Their match from last year was already pretty stiff, but this was on another level. 4 minutes of BattlARTSian brutality featuring all manners of loud kicks, shoot punches to the mouth and slaps to the face. Chocoball’s post Crazy MAX path towards babyface redemption was seemingly still ongoing at this point and him getting constantly destroyed by Mochi was a vital part of that process. Hell of a finish too: Mochi with the 2nd-rope Fujiwara armbar into Bukogatame. **3/4
Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. CIMA, Sumo Dandy Fuji 2000 & MAKOTO
If you want to see what all the fuss was about with early Toryumon multi-man matches, I suggest you skip all the ’99 tags and go straight to this one. This really felt like THE match these guys have been trying to have since that inaugural elimination tag. Never would’ve guessed the secret ingredient to perfect the sprint formula was to switch out SUWA/TARU for vampire boy MAKOTO, but here we are. All killer/No filler with the pace ramped up to insane speeds and everyone putting in a serious shift to bring the action as close as they could to a Kaientai/Michinoku Sekigun 6-man classic.
Crazy MAX dropped the tweener bullshit for this one and went full rudo, beating the fuck out of Dragon Kid and creating all sorts of chaos with SUWA ring-side interference spots. On top of all the quality heeling, I loved seeing the Mochi/Dandy beef from December carry over – Fuji enthusiastically leaning into Mochizuki’s hardest shots before dying an inevitable death.
The back end of the match was the most ambitious things these guys have attempted so far and outside of Dragon Kid crushing his wrist on a Phoenix splash, they stuck the landing. Absolutely mental dives all over the place, back and forth springboard sequences, guys murdering each other left and right with nasty head drops. All of it orchestrated and structured in a much more satisfying way than all of their matches so far.
As if the bonkers Korakuen response wasn’t enough to make it all feel pretty special, there’s that ALL TIMER POST-MATCH ANGLE with a tuxedo-wearing Ultimo Dragon cleaning house following a Kanda/Susumu heel invasion. These matches would keep getting better and better, but at this point – this was a landmark. ****
Chocoball KOBE vs. Minoru Fujita
Before he became a divorced death match sleazebag, Minoru Fujita was actually a wholesome, hard-working BJW turned Michinoku Pro rookie. He also spent a lot of time in BattlARTS, which made him an ideal candidate for this shockingly good match with the man they call Chocoball. 6 minutes of super snug, physical wrestling that made for a great palette cleanser after the high-flying excitement of the previous match. Both of these guys could go on the mat and weren’t afraid to hit each other right in the mouth. Dug Fujita’s strategy here – trying to keep Chocoball grounded to avoid getting his face punched into a million pieces. Those ass kickings from Mochi were definitely working in KOBE’s favor, because he was starting to feel dangerous. Little dude damn near took Fujita’s head off with an Aja Kong-worthy spinning back fist. A real good time at the matches. ***1/4
Chocoball KOBE vs. Daiyu Kawauchi
KAGEKI LEGEND Daiyu Kawauchi is back and thus all is well. Man, I am really into this Chocoball midcard professional wrestling. It doesn’t feel like classic Toryumon at all, but it adds some variety to these GAORA episodes and variety is a wonderful thing. This was very much a clash between Kawauchi’s burly power offense and Chocoball’s leathery shoot stylings. And just like in the previous match, they managed to pack a lot of stuff in 6-7 minutes. Kawauchi has some funky swinging Rock bottom variants and KOBE is slowly but surely becoming a pro at fighting from underneath with unexpectedly vicious bursts of offense. Some of the stuff he threw at Kawauchi was almost Proto-Katsuyori Shibata-esque. A brutal kick to the face to block a Figure 4, a freaking PUNT KICK right in the head and again one of the nastiest spinning backfists I’ve ever seen. Also need to mention that this man’s victory pose is a straight up jerk off motion. Love the masturbation. ***
Magnum TOKYO, Tiger Mask & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. CIMA, Sumo Dandy Fuji 2000 & MAKOTO
What I’m about to say might seem weird today, but 20 years ago Tiger Mask IV was considered one of the most promising junior heavyweights in Japan. Unlike Misawa and Kanemoto, he trained with Satoru Sayama himself and there was a real buzz around his Michinoku Pro work. You could see some of the appeal in this match, what with the effortless lucha high spots and Sayama tributes. He hadn’t yet settled into the rote patterns of his New Japan days and was a lot of fun to watch. Quick sidenote: for my 14 year old self, Magu/Tiger/Mochi was probably the most powerful Sekigun trio to face C-MAX up to this point. The match was the house show version of the earlier Korakuen 6-man: a bunch of great moments but nowhere near the same level of heat and drama. This is becoming a recurring theme with those non-Korakuen multiman sprints. ***
